


you're kinda my religion (don't make it weird)

by strange_index



Series: i’d burn this place to the ground (if it didn’t have you) [2]
Category: Final Fantasy XIV
Genre: Alternate Universe - Childhood Friends, Angst and Hurt/Comfort, Au Ra Warrior of Light (Final Fantasy XIV), Creepy Fluff, Fluff, M/M, Male Warrior of Light (Final Fantasy XIV), POV Warrior of Light (Final Fantasy XIV), Trust Issues, Violence, Zenos yae Galvus Has Feelings, making up my WoL's religion, my au ra is from the other side of the steppe, no beta we die like the ascian homeworld, the usual zenos warnings, umbra is a bit of a fanatic here, unhealthy amount of headcanon, unsettling devotion
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2021-02-12
Updated: 2021-02-12
Packaged: 2021-03-12 13:22:09
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,077
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/29385513
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/strange_index/pseuds/strange_index
Summary: An uncharacteristic moment of softness from the Garlean crown prince is unsurprisingly accompanied by violence. Two psychos show concern in concerning ways. An Au Ra raised in Garlemald has his own ways of keeping sane.~~~“You will be the next to receive the Resonant.”“No,” Umbra snarled. “I already told you I won’t alter my soul like that, Zenos. I can’t.”The bastard has the nerve to suck his teeth at him. Varis is right, I really am a bad influence on this massive brat...
Relationships: Zenos yae Galvus/Warrior of Light (Final Fantasy XIV)
Series: i’d burn this place to the ground (if it didn’t have you) [2]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/2158644
Kudos: 12





	you're kinda my religion (don't make it weird)

**Author's Note:**

> Eyo, sinners! \o/
> 
> I kinda went off the rails into another AU idea I had: my WoL grows up in Garlemald after his tribe is conquered and meets Zenos when they're both still brats. Fic incoming to explain how they grew up knowing each other, but just know they are childhood friends and sparring partners and the WoL isn't exactly sure what the Echo is just yet.
> 
> (wanted to post this one first cuz it's a lil spicier and maybe that'll get me off my ass and in-gear to finish another fic for the Hanging Tree AU) >//////<

_He really fucked up this time._

“You’re of no use to me if you cannot keep up, old friend.”

His ribs were definitely cracked, breathing was a fucking hassle, and the damn bastard was just standing over him looking vaguely disappointed. The fucking cheater.

“You...” After a painful cough he resolves to never repeat, _oh gods it hurts_ , Umbra spits out a mouthful of blood on the floor at Zenos’ feet. “You used the Resonant again, you big bitch. Of _course_ I’m not gonna react as fast when there’s a wall of aether comin’ at me, prick.”

Umbra kept his voice low, struggling to maintain shallow breaths. “If you had any damn aether control of your own, maybe you coulda helped me out here,” he growled, pressing a glowing hand to his side. Investing in Eorzean techniques of white magic was certainly a wise decision if one continued to play with Behemoths. _Ma always said this blond devil would be the death of him..._

“You will be the next to receive the Resonant.”

Umbra, now seated cross-legged and repairing his cracked sternum, gaped up at the prince. “ _No_ ,” he snarled. “I already told you I won’t alter my soul like that, Zenos. I can’t.”

The bastard has the nerve to suck his teeth at him. _Varis is right, I really am a bad influence on this massive brat..._

“Your savage beliefs aside, you must now realize you will not be enough to defeat our growing hordes of enemies as you are now,” Zenos explained. He did so carefully, like the prince was making some effort to use his abysmal empathy skills. 

“The Eorzeans and their eikons are but a stepping stone. Far greater beasts circle us even now, my friend,” he ended cryptically, extending a hand to Umbra. 

Finished healing as best he could without a medicus, Umbra accepted the hand and let himself be pulled up and into the prince’s crushing grip. He allowed the hold, but remained planted apart from Zenos when he tried to reel him in closer. 

Glaring, Umbra frowned, “So you thought the best way to convince me to let your scientists tear apart my aether and desecrate my spiritual form was to knock me around with your new superpowers.” It wasn’t a question, it was a resigned statement. 

“You know my beliefs, you know my stories,” Umbra continued. “I passed them to you as my mother did to me because you asked, you wanted to understand why I endure all I have at the hands of your stupid fucking countrymen and your great-grandfather’s moronic edicts without trying to kill you in your sleep. 

“You know my people’s souls are marked by our hardships and all who slight us become our prey in the next life. The tempered are touched by crystals and aether as you have been, and their souls are different after. I will not risk my soul being warped by your science into something unrecognizable to mine own kin in my next life, Zenos.”

They glare at each other for a long time before Zenos steps forward and dips his head closer to Umbra’s. “You have yet to tell me how my soul would fare in your afterlife, friend. For years you have avoided my question. Answer now, or this fight does not end here.” He tightened his grip painfully, but Umbra refused to wince.

Instead, he smiled sadly at Zenos. “Come on, Zen. You’re smart for a brat.” He leaned up into his space, careful of his horns, as he tilted his forehead against Zenos’ cheek. He ran his claws up the taller man’s chest to drum them at the base of his throat, feeling the thrum of his heart even through his horns. “Your soul is too warped to ever be known by your mother anymore,” he whispered cruelly.

The hand tightened further, Umbra’s bones groaning in protest, as Zenos’ heartbeat stuttered in response. 

“But,” Umbra continued, almost purring. “My soul will always know yours. The only Garlean I have ever truly known, my partner in peace and war, our souls will fight on. We’ll watch the other’s back.” 

Umbra pulled back slightly to stare deep into Zenos’ eyes and the prince’s mouth and chest tightened at the ferocity in the other’s gaze, the bloodlust.

“I will roam the shadowed lands beyond the plains of our afterlife until I find your darkness and I will tie you to me. You will never hunt alone, my warbrother.” The hand on his went slack but Umbra laced their fingers together and squeezed hard enough to bruise even Garlean steel such as he. 

“But to do that, the ancestors must recognize my soul as theirs and allow me into the plains. Once there,” Umbra crooned, stroking Zenos’ lip with his thumb and watching the blond’s eyes just barely flutter in response, “we’ll hunt together for eternity. My soul and whatever passes for yours.” 

He dug his claws into Zenos’ hair and snarled, “I will find it, no matter its shape, so don’t go dying before me like you can hide.” Umbra smirks. “And don’t worry about me just because I let you get a cheap shot in.” 

Zenos gave him a slow smile that many would find fairly off-putting, especially when coupled with his wide, unhinged eyes. “An eternity, you say? I fear you make sweet promises you can scarcely uphold, my friend.

“I dare say I will hold you to that... else I will have little to do but tear asunder the very firmament separating this life from the next to hunt you down myself.” Zenos wrapped his free hand around Umbra’s throat, easily spanning it with his long fingers and stroking at the pulse in the Au Ra’s neck. 

“Do remember to take all of our bouts seriously, runt. I would hate to think you were becoming lax in your training,” Zenos added. He ran his thumb over the knuckles of the hand interlaced with his own, backing down for the moment, the argument settled as much as it could be until their next duel. 

They would no doubt continue their bickering tomorrow: Zenos adamant that his friend be his equal in all ways, including the powers he wielded, and Umbra steadfast in his belief that to alter himself would set both his and Zenos’ souls adrift after death. In their own violent ways, they worried about the future, together. 

Far greater beasts are ever circling the Empire...


End file.
